Sophon-UE Shadow War
The Sophon-UE war was a cold war between the two empires over a territory dispute. During the fourth wave of UE colonisation after the rise of Emperor Maximilian, a skirmish between Sophon and United Empire colony escorts escalates and breaks the Non-Aggression Pact between the two. During this time, enraged Sophon and UE patrol forces turn pirate to raid the others colonies. During this time, the United Empire accepted such methods from their forces and even helped their recruitment, providing heavy propaganda. Reasons behind the tension During first contact with the Sophons in the year 3100, the current Emperor believed that they were just a race who aquired an Endless ship and used their engines to colonise. And so he ordered 4 fleets to begin conquering the races planets and enslave their people as slaves. But what they didn't expect was to be out gunned by an Empire who has advanced beyond them and uses plasma technology, of which the UE has no counter to. This war lasted for 200 years and ended with a non-aggression pact as the Sophons couldn't get past Pinnacle, and the UE fleets would be wiped out after destroying a fleet over one of their systems. The Shadow War When colony ship from both the United Empire and Sophon attempted the colonise in the same system and planet, the escorts of both began firing on the others colony ship, destroying them. Enraged from the loss of so many civilians, both fleets returned to their own space and sent messages to their leaders. Both not wanting another war deny the request for retribution, but some of the system guards were too blind from bloodlust that they fly towards the borders and began raiding Sophon colonies. The Emperor, being threatened to stop the violation of the pact under promise of war could only respond that they were not under his command. The Sophon leaders, given only one choice, sent several fleets to try and stop the raids. As the fleets engaged the pirates, they realised that the UE had advanced a lot since their last encounter. Barely destroying, or barely surviving into a stale mate, they knew they would need to develop stronger defenses and more fleets. Using the wrecks, they began studying the human weapons in hopes of understanding how to create better counters. During this time, the Emperor amazed with the success, told his military that he wouldn't blame any of them for becoming buccaneers, and the military had shrunk in size to less than half of its original size. As the raids intensified, the Sophons sent several of their newest ships to fight the pirates. In the first encounter, their shields had some difficulty turning on, and the fleet just barely won. But their second fight couldn't have been more successful, losing only two ships to a whole pirate fleet. The Sophon leaders, joyed at this development, ordered the rearmament of three quarters of their fleet, ordering the others to begin their own raids on the UE as the pirate group "Vengence, and then some". Realising that the Sophons will not fall with their new deflectors, and started creating new ideas. As system patrols message them that the Sophons have their own pirates, they think of a new tactic, boarding. Learning from the pirates of old, they decide that they will focus more towards engines and shielding, get close to the Sophon ships long enough for their boarding parties to get on, and escape before their ships melt. As several of the pirates began boarding Sophon ships, first a rank of pirates will fire their guns at the Sophon ship security, the others will charge in will swords and pistols, knowing that the sophons huge laser weaponry wouldn't be usable in close combat. The Sophon crew falling quickly, lost control of their ships, and the pirates will use them against the other Sophons, and if they survive, use them to infiltrate and raid without warning. To replenish their ranks, and increase those of the pirates, the United Empire Propaganda Sector started developing heavy posters to convince more people to join their military, and their military grew to four times their post-war numbers. Sending 4500 recruits to the front, Horatio spies seeing this quickly report to the Sophons, who begin creating bio weapons that would cause hallucinations on the target worlds, wanting the humans to wipe themselves out. Using these, they sent small scout ships to deploy them and get out without getting caught by the slower frigates. After losing hundreds of thousands of colonists, the UE tired of fighting especially after the Hissho war, ask if the Sophons are willing to stop their attacks if they send their military to take care of the human pirates. Doubting the truth in their words but also wishing for peace, they accept, but keep their fleets in the ready. After a year of peace from pirates, Horatio spies inform the Sophons that the pirates had been ordered to cease their raids and once again join the UE navy under peace, or have their families executed. Result The Sophons had developed enhanced shielding against UE kinetic weaponry, as well as stronger hulls and lasers through experimentation, but had lost over two million civilians in the conflict. The UE had lost 789 653 civilians, and over 14 300 of their military who had gone on to be pirates. But they had access to both the Sophons pre war ships, and their response ships, both of which were taken to secret R&D facilites.